Plumbers seeing increase in calls over frozen water pipes

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UNION, MO (KTVI)-- The painful cold is also a pain in the neck for homeowners and plumbers. One plumbing company reports they’ve had more calls concerning frozen water pipes in one day than they usually get in an entire month.

In Union, Missouri folks in a mobile home park are bringing in jugs of water. Their water lines are frozen, and they can’t do dishes, wash dirty clothes or flush the toilet. Michelle Stinetipher is a victim of the frozen pipes. “We try to keep the pipes dripping during the winter so it doesn’t freeze like this but sometimes it just get cold enough it just does it,” she said in frustration.

Her husband Ryan has tried but failed to fix the problem. He said, “I started using a heat gun. It still hasn’t thawed it out yet.”

Michelle Stinetipher says it doesn’t have to get down to below zero for the pipes to freeze, that it happens almost every winter.